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Magical Mini Rhubarb Galettes
My little brother (a mere 60 year old brother, that is) called me last week and invited himself over to my house so we could bake together. He specifically wanted to watch me work with pie dough – his nemesis – and asked to make mini rhubarb galettes. He’d made these before and thought we could split the goods during rhubarb season. Additionally, earlier in the week I emailed all my siblings a recipe for a dark chocolate chunk cookies with salt flakes on top – and we both wanted to make this as well. Sugar and flour and butter — oh my!
What a morning it was… Kal and I are simpatico in the kitchen. We both bake often and are thankfully both quick, tidy, and on the same page when it comes to seasoning and estimating quantities–in other words we have fun yet get the job done. I do, however, have more pie crust experience so I was able to show him a few tricks of the trade. It turned out that both these projects were way easier with two people – and four hands. I rolled and cut the dough, he filled and crimped and brushed and we baked and ate and divided. The cookies were made during the lag time for these pies and it worked out perfectly. Win win!
I LOVED these little rustic pies. As pictured, they look a little brown because my farmers market only had green rhubarb, and although it tastes great I prefer the look of red rhubarb for a project like this. (Note: next time I find only green rhubarb I’ll add the peel from a plum or dark red apple to give it a reddish hue). Adding ginger and dark brown sugar to the rhubarb gave it a complex, deep flavor. Soooooo good, and a little different for company. I always prefer a small, individual dessert rather than something fussy and too rich after a meal. So I’m thrilled to have another perfect accompaniment for spring meals for my guests!
And the aforementioned chocolate chunk cookies? Let’s just say they were an 11 out of 10. Look for the recipe and my experience with those soon…
And now, the rhubarb galettes!!
Mini Rhubarb Ginger Rustic Galettes
Servings: 16-18 individual pies
Dough Ingredients
I always use the same recipe for pies and galettes – which you can find here.
Refrigerate dough for at least an hour so it is pretty cold but not too hard. I always take the crust out of the fridge a good 15 minutes before I start to roll it.
Filling Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs trimmed rhubarb (about 6 cups)
- A little less than ¾ c dark brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp ginger, grated
- 2 tsp vanilla
Ingredients to use right before baking
- 2-3 T whipping cream
- ¼ cup mixed cinnamon/sugar
Instructions
Make galette filling:
Trim rhubarb stalks and cut them into ½ inch pieces. Add the brown sugar, ginger, and vanilla and stir every few minutes so it brings out the rhubarb juice, about 15 minutes.
Take half the rhubarb out of this bowl and heat it in a saucepan, covering once it starts to simmer. Let it steam for 5-7 minutes until the rhubarb starts to soften. Add this hot mixture to the uncooked rhubarb left in the bowl and let everything sit until it is room temperature.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees (or 350 convection if you have that feature) with oven racks in the center of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment.
Roll out ¼ of the dough and cut into 4-inch diameter circles. Spoon about 1 ½ Tbsp of the rhubarb onto the center of each circular piece of dough. Fold up and pinch the sides around the rhubarb enough to hold it all in. Continue until all the rhubarb is used up. Know that the little pies won’t spread out so they can be within an inch of each other.
Use a pastry brush to swipe the dough edges of each little crostata with cream and sprinkle the edges with a little cinnamon sugar. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
Remove them from the oven and carefully put on a wire rack to cool. You can also freeze these when cool and re-warm slightly before serving. Add a dollop of whipping cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you feel like indulging!
I am even thinking of freezing a batch of uncooked pies so I can enjoy them after rhubarb season. And my rhubarb sauce, from now on, will be made with dark brown sugar and fresh grated ginger.
